After two days of cancelling the Common University Entrance Test-Undergraduate at multiple centres due to technical glitches, the National Testing Agency on Saturday said action will be taken against centres for non-compliance of protocols.
On Thursday, the first shift of the exam was cancelled at several centres across 17 states, while the second shift was cancelled at all 489 centres. On Friday, the exam was cancelled at 50 centres.
Anticipating the same situation on Saturday, the agency cancelled the CUET-UG for the day at 53 centres and sent messages to candidates about its postponement on Friday night.
"Taking cognisance of the inconvenience faced by the students in some of the centres of CUET, NTA reviewed the entire situation yesterday (Friday). It was found that some of the centres failed to comply (with the) laid down protocols.
"Any incidence of non-compliance/sabotage/ignorance will be viewed very seriously and strict action will be taken against those centres to ensure smooth conduct of examinations in future," the NTA said in a statement.
While the agency has announced fresh dates for some of the students whose exams were cancelled, it is yet to announce them for several others. According to NTA sources, many of the over 60 centres where exams have been cancelled since the start of the CUET-UG 2022 from July 15 are likely to be delisted.
The agency may also extend the last date for the test till around August 23 from August 20 to accommodate the candidates whose exams were cancelled. The first phase of CUET-UG was held between July 15 and July 20.
Meanwhile, University Grants Commission (UGC) chairman M Jagadesh Kumar said Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan reviewed arrangements at CUET-UG centres on Saturday and the exam was held at 347 centres across the country.
"Today, officials from MoE, UGC, AICTE and NTA reviewed the CUET arrangements at the test centres across the country together with Union Education Minister Shri Dharmendra Pradhan," Kumar said in a series of tweets.
"On 6th August (Saturday), in 347 test centres across India, in both morning and afternoon shifts, CUET went off well with 96074 candidates registered for the exam," he said. The UGC chairman also said that all arrangements are in place for Sunday's exam.
"For the CUET on 7th August (Sunday), all arrangements have been made. A total of 63,404 candidates have registered in 276 test centres across India, Best wishes to all the candidates," he said. Kumar had in March announced that CUET scores, and not Class 12 marks, would be mandatory for admission to 45 central universities which can fix their minimum eligibility criteria.
With 14.9 lakh registrations, the CUET is now the second-biggest entrance exam in the country, surpassing the JEE-Main's average registration of nine lakh. Apart from central universities, 12 state universities, 11 deemed universities, and 19 private universities have applied to participate in the first edition of CUET-UG for admissions in the academic session 2022-23.
(With PTI inputs)
